Essay

The text "essay" has been written by T.S. Eliot, and was originally written as one of a series talks to broadcast to Germany after World War II.

It is composed of 5 paragraphs and it begins with a consideration of the writer who thinks that English is the richest language for the purposes of writing poetry.

He obviously explains the reasons of his statement.

The main reason is that English has a great variety of the elements of which it is made up: first there is the Germanic element, the element that the writer and the German auditorium have in common; then there is the Scandinavian element due to the Danish conquest, and the Norman French element after the Norman conquest. Finally there is also a moderate use of Latin words.

English language used for poetry is also composed by a variety of metrical elements: there is the rhythm of early Saxon verse, the rhythm of the Norman French, the rhythm of the Welsh and also the influence of Latin and Greek poetry.

After these explanations the writer says that English is a good language for poetry because it is derived from so many linguistic sources; moreover he adds that England has not necessarily produced the greatest poets, because a nation which leads in a particular art form in a particular period does not necessarily produce the greatest artists (example: English romantic movement).

To conclude Eliot says that the ability of an European art to renew itself depends on two factors:

•-        The ability to receive and assimilate influences from abroad;

•-        The ability to go back and learn from its own sources.